BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn man was killed Saturday morning after a minivan that he was riding in, driven by a drunken motorist, smashed into a double-parked flatbed tow truck in East Flatbush.
The victim, Hugue Lapomarede, 31, had been celebrating his birthday, according to news reports, before the crash occurred outside Jet Towing at 1304 Utica Ave. at 4:25 a.m.
Vladimir JeanPierre, 34, who was driving the white 2001 Nissan Quest, was charged with manslaughter, reckless endangerment, vehicular manslaughter and DWI, police said.
A neighboring business owner, Howard Horowitz, 50, saw the aftermath of the crash when he opened his shop, ABC Collision, on Saturday morning.
“It hit the side of the flatbed," he said. “It was bad - it was real bad.
"They had to cut the roof off to get the people off. The doors were pulled off, the doors were destroyed."
According to the Daily News, a neighbor said that Lapomarede had been celebrating his birthday when he and JeanPierre slammed into the double-parked tow truck.
It was not clear if there was any wrongdoing on the part of the tow truck operator, police said.
